Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said today that Moscow should consider using low-power nuclear weapons in Ukraine, after the new big defeat on the battlefield.

Commenting on today's loss of the Russian strategic stronghold, the city of Liman, in eastern Ukraine, Kadyrov wrote on the Telegram channel: "In my opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, which would go as far as declaring a state of emergency in the border areas, as well as the use of lower-powered nuclear weapons."

The Chechen leader said this just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin officially announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk, where the city of Liman is located, and placed all these places under the Russian "nuclear umbrella".

Putin also said yesterday that Moscow will defend the territories it occupies "with all its strength and with all its means". Russia is known to have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including lower-yield tactical nuclear weapons designed to be used against rival armies.

Putin's remaining allies, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested Russia may have to resort to nuclear weapons, but Kadyrov's call is the most explicit yet.